Dear People of St. James’,
In John’s gospel, as Jesus prepared his disciples for the trauma that they were about to face in his death, he prays a powerful and public prayer that they might all be one. This is a little peculiar, because John’s Jesus seems to know that, not only will the disciples be scattered by the events of the days coming, but also that, when they have passed through to the other side, they will be sent out as witnesses to the power of God. And so, what does this prayer for oneness mean? What is Jesus praying for us when we are apart from each other, when we are those scattered by the trauma of pandemic and also sent to be witnesses to the power of God?
We are in a moment of passage from disorientation to reorientation as we begin to gather in ways that look familiar, but different, and we continue those modes of being together that we have discovered in the pandemic time. As we reorient ourselves toward each other, toward the People of St. James’ that God has been building even during the pandemic, we are clearly in a process of meeting and welcoming and making space for belonging for each other again. So, we are seeking ways to come face-to-face with each other anew.
This summer of reorientation will be a summer of experiments in hybridization. Hybridization is just one means of bringing us face-to-face.
Experiment #1 (Starting May 9): The Hybrid Adult Classroom
This will allow a group of people gathered in person in Founders Hall (masked and distanced) to be in eyesight and in conversation with you on your computer or your phone on Zoom. The 360 degree camera on our conferencing device will focus on the person in the room who is speaking in order to improve the Zoom viewer experience. We will try out this setup first with The Rev. Robby Vickery’s Sunday Morning Forum from 9:15-10:10. This will allow those who come to the 10:30 service in person to also be a part of the Forum if they so desire.
Our larger scale experiment with this format will be on May 16 with the Thurgood Marshall Coffee Hour. This will allow those who come to church in person to stay and participate in the panel conversation in Founders Hall with those on Zoom, participating from home or wherever they may be. This setup may be used by any number of adult formation groups in the future. Got questions? Talk to Rev. Eileen (rector@stjamesaustin.org).
Experiment #2 (Starting June 6): Livestreaming the 10:30 am and 1 pm in person services
This will allow those at home to join those worshipping in person at 10:30 am or at 1 pm in Spanish, to have an experience of singing and moving and spiritual communion with the congregation. You can join in at the time of the in person service [or anytime thereafter!] on Facebook, YouTube, or through our website’s Worship Online page. Got questions? Talk to Aimee Estep (office@stjamesaustin.org).
Experiment #3 (Starting in June): Hybrid Godly Play
This will allow children attending the 10:30 am service to gather for story-sharing and reflection during the gospel and sermon time with those tuning in from home to create a bigger circle. We will experiment with having the in person circle outside and in Founders Hall, but we are holding off a full return to the Orange building as we prepare two classroom spaces to spread out for Godly Play there. Parents, got questions? Talk with our Children’s Minister, Ari Monts (ari@stjamesaustin.org).
More information to come!
The Rev. Eileen O’Brien
